Nutshell Coolers - Chill by Nature
Sustainable and collapsible coolers made from coconuts. Designed to last years, not millennia
Meet the modern, sustainable cooler—built to last years, not millennia.Nutshell is a cooler on a mission: to fit seamlessly into adventures and apartments, to replace plastic foam with natural fibers, and to connect people with the farmers and materials at the heart of their products.
No garage, no problem. Nutshell packs flat to half its width so you can store it away in the closet, under the couch, or in the trunk of your carNutshell kept ice frozen for more than 48 hours in our tests, outperforming the Yeti Hopper Two, Coleman Excursion, Styrofoam, and several other coolers in identical conditions. There are many variables that affect ice retention including contents of the cooler, ratio of ice, original ice temperature, type of ice (crushed, block, cube), ambient temperature, exposure to direct sunlight, etc. Therefore, we can't tell you exactly how long ice will last inside your Nutshell, but we can tell you it will last longer than it would have inside most plastic alternatives.
Nutshell with Box Clever, the sustainable design studio behind category-defining products like Nebia showers, Caraway cookware, and Away luggage.Carrying your cooler shouldn't be a workout. Use the comfortable side handles or shoulder strap to take Nutshell wherever you go.
Nutshell holds enough food and drinks to keep everyone fed and refreshed. It even fits wine bottles Check out all the stuff you can fit including room for plenty of ice.Nutshell’s removable, leakproof welded liner makes cleaning a breeze. Rinse it with water and mild soap and let it dry before storing.
Pack your essentials in the two side pockets, or use the hidden D-rings as additional attachment points for your keys and more Unclip the front of your Nutshell and use it as a tabletop surface. Great for picnics at the park and at the beach.
The Nutshell Ice Pack is made with recycled polyester and ships empty to minimize carbon emissions. You can easily fill it with water or a salt water mixture at home and freeze it before use. Empty the water after your trip and fold it away, or keep your ice pack full in the freezer for your next adventure. Get it for 33% OFF.
Nutshell Coolers are insulated with coconut husk fiber, a waste product of the coconut industry.years working alongside farmers and engineers in the Philippines, turning this waste into insulation for the Nutshell Cooler.
The husk of a coconut is a natural marvel: it protects the water inside, keeping it cool in the heat and safe when it falls. But it’s nothing more than waste for farmers. Billions of leftover husks are burned every year, producing unhealthy smoke and releasing tons of CO2 into the atmosphere.
Our natural materials offer the supernatural technical performance expected of top outdoor gear.Coconut husk fibers are hollow and contain tons of tiny trapped air pockets--the same exact structure that plastic foam insulation uses to reduce heat transfer (i.e. conduction). In fact, if you compare Expanded Polystyrene foam (EPS, a.k.a. Styrofoam) and coconut fiber side by side under a microscope, you’ll hardly see a difference. Yet every cooler brand, and almost every outdoor gear company, relies on polluting plastic foam insulation without thinking twice about it. Nutshell proves that there's a better choice, and a growing Nutshell community forces the industry to take notice.
Where we can't eliminate synthetics, we source certified recycled textiles that complement our natural insulation. Nutshell’s water-repellent shell and leakproof liner are made with top-of-the-line materials.Nutshell is water resistant thanks to a PFC-free PU coating to protect your stuff from the weather. We chose a 600D certified recycled fabric and coated webbing for long-term durability.
RF-welded seams eliminate stitching and provide a leakproof interior liner made of 100% recycled polyester. Our sturdy metal hook keeps everything sealed and safe inside your Nutshell.Hidden D-rings for the shoulder strap offer additional attachment points for keys, bottle openers, and other essentials.
Use the bottom closure latch to fold your Nutshell into a neat package and store it away until your next adventure. As easy as 1,2,3 By using leftover coconut husks that would otherwise be burned, every Nutshell Cooler prevents CO2 emissions and unhealthy smoke.
Nutshell is designed to last years, not millennia.
Nutshell Coolers are made tough so you can enjoy them on countless adventures for years to come. And our design and material choices are grounded in circularity: Nutshell insulation is biodegradable and useful as mulch or plant root protection at the end of its insulating life. The coconut fiber insulation is accessible via internal pockets to separate the degradable and recycled components.
leftover coconut husks from small-scale farmers in the Philippines. This provides them with an additional source of income for food, school fees, and community investment. We partner with coconut fiber processors in rural communities, creating new jobs and supporting local businesses.
As a member of 1% for the Planet, Nutshell donates at least 1% of all sales to support our longtime conservation NGO partners in the Philippines. (This does not include funds raised on this campaign, per Kickstarter rules, but our Philippines support projects are ongoing during these challenging times.
Nutshell was born in a fishing village in the Philippines where optimism is contagious and resourcefulness is a way of life. What began as a graduate school project to improve local fish packaging became a business that’s improving lives and inspiring change from California to Lubang Island. Today we make biodegradable packaging under the Fortuna Cools brand and sustainable consumer products like the Nutshell Cooler.
Nutshell was born in the toughest of proving grounds: on wooden outrigger-boats under the hot Filipino sun. Fisherfolk and farmers were our co-designers and beta testers since Day 1.Our one-of-a-kind community of designers, NGO supporters, investors, and advisors. They are at the heart of our human-centered design approach.
We perfected Nutshell in partnership with Box Clever, the SF-based team of designers behind some of your favorite brands. Box Clever has helped build household favorites like Nebia and Caraway. They are experts at creating delightful experiences through sustainable design.
We’re building a global movement to amplify our impact. Join us in creating a more hopeful, innovative, and sustainable world.
Nutshell is our first consumer product but we've been cooling the catch and harvest of fisherfolk and farmers since 2018. Our first product was a collapsible, six foot cooler designed for the hundred thousand small-scale tuna fishermen in Southeast Asia that lack at-sea cold storage—their catch is left out in the sun until they reach the shore, at which point the quality has degraded significantly. We spent months prototyping with local fishermen and designed an affordable, durable, and expandable cooler for this overlooked market.
We also make a sustainable, durable, flat-packable alternative to the standard Styrofoam cooler. The Fortuna Cooler was designed alongside fish and produce suppliers in the Philippines to avoid plastic pollution and reduce packaging costs in temperature-sensitive supply chains. Learn more at fortunacools.com
Human-centered design is at our core: we seek out input from people across all walks of life to build products they’ll love.
We aim to create sustainable products and business models with a positive impact on human and natural communities.We believe nature has already solved some of our biggest challenges. We upcycle naturally-available resources productively and responsibly. We are inspired by the generosity and resilience of the Filipinos we work with. We seek to channel their strength and positivity in everything that we do.
Durability has been a design priority since Day 1, when we were making coolers with small-scale fishermen in the Philippines--those coolers had to be tough. We’ve selected 600D tear-resistant fabric, thick insulation panels, and stainless metal hardware for a robust build that will last many years. Moreover, the different component parts of Nutshell can be disassembled and replaced or repaired without buying an entirely new product.
Reusability and recyclability
Nutshell’s coconut husk insulation is biodegradable and easily accessible via internal pockets to ensure that it's upcycled properly. Nutshell Coolers' packaging will be completely plastic-free to ensure nothing ends up in the landfill.
Sustainable materials
Our natural coconut husk insulation replaces plastic foam, reducing plastic pollution on land and at sea. Upcycling agricultural waste avoids CO2 emissions from husk incineration. Moreover, our water-repellent shell and leakproof liner are made with 100% certified recycled polyester yarn.
Sustainable Distribution
We will never use plastic packaging. Our collapsible design allows for 50% smaller shipping volume, so we can fit twice as many coolers in one shipping container. And most important, we decided to ship via ocean freight to select markets instead of air freight around the world, forgoing some international sales and speed in order to greatly reduce our carbon footprint.
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Electronics